House set alight after wedding gunfight kills three in Turkey's west

Relatives of Efkan Özçimen, 32, the head of the Roma Associations Federation and a former candidate nominee for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), who was killed in a gunfight during the wedding on May 31, set fire to a house where relatives of one of the suspects thought to be involved in the wedding attack were living. 

The group also attacked the firemen who headed to the area, but police prevented the group and guarded the firemen, Anadolu Agency reported. The house was severely damaged in the fire and several cars in the same street were damaged.

An argument at a street wedding held by members of the Roma community in the Hacivat neighborhood of Bursa had turned into a gunfight on May 31. Özçimen, along with Saniye Gedik, 53, and Savaş Göcük, 31, were killed in the attack, while 15 injured people were hospitalized.

The quarrel reportedly broke out after Özçimen kept calling on relatives of the bride and groom to dance throughout the night. It is said to have escalated into a gunfight after the Gedik family complained that Özçimen had not called them to dance for a long time.

The attendees of the wedding fled in panic as 18 people were wounded or killed in the exchange of fire. The casualties were taken to the Şevket Yılmaz Education and Research Hospital, the Muradiye and Çekirge state hospitals, and a private hospital.

Police have since detained six people, some from the Gedik family. Police have also seized around 100 empty cartridges while searching the area.